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This might not seem like political news, but I can't help but notice how liberal Google and Apple are in their marketing campaigns when it comes to freedom of information. It's their business models after all, so you'd expect them to spoil the public. They don't care how stupid people are when it comes to STEM principles as long as they can make a buck, sabotaging the next generation of engineers just so a few can make it big. They thrive on having a diverse labor supply as well from all over the world.

I guess some might qualify them as Rockefeller Republican, but it's the same deal. Either way, it's nice seeing them butt heads. I hope this lawsuit drains as much of both company's treasuries as possible.

No, progressives are not socialists.

Business is 99.8% politics...

I love the NSA. It's like having a secret fan-base you will never see, but they're there, watching everything you write and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that I may be some person's only form of unconstitutional entertainment one night.

And tell me of some Apple innovation.... give me an example since the iPad came out.

The iPad itself was nothing more than yet another innovation in marketing. It's nothing more than a glorified PDA, which is noting more than a limited, portable computer... which has been around for quite a long time. Even in the tablet configuration, Microsoft beat them to market. If only Bill Gates understood marketing like Steve Jobs did.

"Political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. . . . Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness."
~Orwell, Politics and the English Language

The iPad itself was nothing more than yet another innovation in marketing. It's nothing more than a glorified PDA, which is noting more than a limited, portable computer... which has been around for quite a long time. Even in the tablet configuration, Microsoft beat them to market. If only Bill Gates understood marketing like Steve Jobs did.

For the most part I agree with what you say here. The last sentence seems out-of-place to me, though. While I don't disagree that Jobs is probably one of the best marketers of our time, Apple's market share in most major shared categories/markets still pales in comparison to Microsoft's.

If you claim sexual harassment to be wrong, yet you defend anyone on your side for any reason,
then you are a hypocrite and everything you say on the matter is just babble.

For the most part I agree with what you say here. The last sentence seems out-of-place to me, though. While I don't disagree that Jobs is probably one of the best marketers of our time, Apple's market share in most major shared categories/markets still pales in comparison to Microsoft's.

Market share does not really matter in the big picture.... profits matter and especially profit margin per sold item and here Apple and Steve Jobs excel.

Apple has managed to take average parts and put it in a packaged that looks exclusive and smack a massive profit margin on top to create an "exclusive quality" product image. Few other companies out there have managed that over the decades... Chevas Regal and Bang & Oloufsen come to mind. Apple basically hit the marketing equivalent of a home run.. for now at least.

Now unlike Chevas Regal and B&O, Apple has a so called ringer.. the mass media. You see, Apple managed back in the days of Apple vs Microsoft to grab the graphics industry where as Microsoft grabbed pretty much everything else. Apple despite almost going bankrupt (and being bailed out by Microsoft), managed to hold on to this market and with graphics comes media .. which means a large portion of the mass media use Macs for video editing. That effects the coverage of Apple products.. yes it is utter bias, but that is how it is. So with this ringer, Apple has managed directly or in-directly to get free advertising on an almost daily basis for the last 7 years. For example CNBC is one big Apple commercial most days. Just wait for Wednesday when the new iPhone 5 is announced... CNBC will be there live I bet as will many other news organisations. And no they were not live covering the release of the Samsung Galaxy 3 or Windows 8, or any other technology that a majority of people actually use.

Due to this media bias, Apple has managed to expand and maintain the illusion that it is the biggest, best and most innovative in all products it makes, despite the facts. At best Apple has a 34ish% market share in the US. Elsewhere it is much much lower. In Spain it is under double digits and falling.. in China and Brazil, Windows Phone has a bigger market share. But because of the marketing and media bias, I would wager most non-geeks would say it was Apple that was the biggest everywhere. They would also state that the iPhone 4S was the most advanced phone around.. with the best screen and all that. Not exactly factual or true.

But in the end their whole business model is based on one thing.. maintaining their grip on their iPhone customers with this image. 75% of all Apple profits comes from its iPhone and if the cost of making the phone goes up and the margin goes down, and the customers drop the phone because it is not the best on the block any more.. then watch Apple stock price fall like a rock and the image they have created over the last decade will be eroded even more.

Market share does not really matter in the big picture.... profits matter and especially profit margin per sold item and here Apple and Steve Jobs excel.

Apple has managed to take average parts and put it in a packaged that looks exclusive and smack a massive profit margin on top to create an "exclusive quality" product image. Few other companies out there have managed that over the decades... Chevas Regal and Bang & Oloufsen come to mind. Apple basically hit the marketing equivalent of a home run.. for now at least.

Now unlike Chevas Regal and B&O, Apple has a so called ringer.. the mass media. You see, Apple managed back in the days of Apple vs Microsoft to grab the graphics industry where as Microsoft grabbed pretty much everything else. Apple despite almost going bankrupt (and being bailed out by Microsoft), managed to hold on to this market and with graphics comes media .. which means a large portion of the mass media use Macs for video editing. That effects the coverage of Apple products.. yes it is utter bias, but that is how it is. So with this ringer, Apple has managed directly or in-directly to get free advertising on an almost daily basis for the last 7 years. For example CNBC is one big Apple commercial most days. Just wait for Wednesday when the new iPhone 5 is announced... CNBC will be there live I bet as will many other news organisations. And no they were not live covering the release of the Samsung Galaxy 3 or Windows 8, or any other technology that a majority of people actually use.

Due to this media bias, Apple has managed to expand and maintain the illusion that it is the biggest, best and most innovative in all products it makes, despite the facts. At best Apple has a 34ish% market share in the US. Elsewhere it is much much lower. In Spain it is under double digits and falling.. in China and Brazil, Windows Phone has a bigger market share. But because of the marketing and media bias, I would wager most non-geeks would say it was Apple that was the biggest everywhere. They would also state that the iPhone 4S was the most advanced phone around.. with the best screen and all that. Not exactly factual or true.

But in the end their whole business model is based on one thing.. maintaining their grip on their iPhone customers with this image. 75% of all Apple profits comes from its iPhone and if the cost of making the phone goes up and the margin goes down, and the customers drop the phone because it is not the best on the block any more.. then watch Apple stock price fall like a rock and the image they have created over the last decade will be eroded even more.

While your previous posts on this subject have been fantastic, you lost me on this one. You start out by discounting the importance of market share, then proceeded to explain why market share is so important.

If you claim sexual harassment to be wrong, yet you defend anyone on your side for any reason,
then you are a hypocrite and everything you say on the matter is just babble.

While your previous posts on this subject have been fantastic, you lost me on this one. You start out by discounting the importance of market share, then proceeded to explain why market share is so important.

I do? Okay let me try to untangle it then.

Market share for companies does not really matter. Market share for the average joe that does not understand anything.. another matter. By creating the myth that they are the biggest, the age old marketing ploy of "following the leader" is invoked and some people simply start buying that product because they hear that everyone has it, or think that all their friends have it and they dont want to feel left out. That the market share aspect does not tell this myth is not something that the average Joe follows in the media.. and when the media actually promotes the myth, then you can get a snowball effect.. that could eventually lead to the myth becoming a fact.. but it does not look like it will.

But in reality, Apple is just fine with 30% market share, as long as it has the massive profit margin on its iPhone... because that gives profit. Nokia has been the biggest phone maker in the world for a decade and only just lost that place to Samsung in the last 4ish months... and that market share is in low cost phones, with next to no profit margin.. which means Nokia last few quarters has run in the red. Nokia's market share on phones dwarfs Apple.. but Apple has massive profits on its small market share. Hence market share does not really matter from Apple's point of view.. other than bragging rights of course.

As long as Apple can keep its 20-30% market share, then its user base and profits is growing, since the over all market for smartphones is expanding. Now the problem for Apple comes when its market share falls like it has in Spain, Germany and other countries.. they are still highly profitable in said countries, but their user base is not expanding but might even be contracting. If that also starts to hit the US, then yes market share suddenly becomes important for Apple, because it will effect its bottom line. But at the moment.. they dont care since the profit margin on what they have is so huge.